For a different taste, try a little less cream and instead of boiling the potatoes, bake them. After baking them until done, remove the skin and use like you had boiled them. Baking them gives a unique flavor.

I did a "chef for a day" stint at one of the best spots in town recently. They make their mashed potatoes using sour cream instead of milk/cream and they are fantastic. I've tried their recipe myself with great results.

Also, try adding a couple of table spoons of olive oil - helps with the texture.

That's a whole lot of garlic and a whole lot of dirty dishes. I use the lazy way and just cook the potatoes until well done, and then stir them in the pan to mash. Always start the potatoes first when making a meal. They will stay hot for a long time & even finish cooking after turning the heat off. I always peel the garlic before cooking - seems unusual to me to not do so.

omg......... i could have made those potatoes 3 times in the time it took to read all the different ways to make them, and then try to comment here.
Tried to register, but gave up............ haha now i see why this blog is called cooking for "engineers"......... very funny!!

Mince garlic and add to hot melted butter , i prefer my garlic just slightly cooked.
Generally use milk and plenty of butter rather than cream and to get very fluffy mashed potatoes you mash with a normal masher then wisk to beat in air.

I dearly love garlic, but isn't there a potential problem of botulism when storing garlic in oil?

Does briefly cooking the garlic lessen/eliminate that concern? Or should the garlic in oil be used within a few days, weeks or ?

aileen, botulism and other nasties don't grow in oil-- if there is enough oil in the jar to cover the garlic completely and the jar is well-capped, the result is preserved garlic and an infused oil. you can reheat / recook if it makes you feel better (feeling better is always good!), but it's not necessary.

aileen, botulism and other nasties don't grow in oil-- if there is enough oil in the jar to cover the garlic completely and the jar is well-capped, the result is preserved garlic and an infused oil. you can reheat / recook if it makes you feel better (feeling better is always good!), but it's not necessary.

Actually, from what I've read that's not quite true. The bacteria that produces botulism toxin (Clostridium botulinum) grows best in a low oxygen or anaerobic (zero oxygen) environment. Garlic infused oils are a potential source of botulism if the garlic was not cooked enough (killing the bacteria) or the oil does not contain sufficient acid to inhibit the growth of the bacteria. For this reason, garlic infused oils should be refrigerated for safety unless the manufacturer really knew what they were doing.

Fortunately, heat does destroy the botulism toxin, so bring the food above boiling (212°F) for at least ten minutes to be safe.

I am not sure if Clostridium botulinum would grow in the oil mixture, it is an anaerobe for sure but not all bacteria like hydrocarbons (some think they are very yummy). What makes it a nasty bug is the fact that it is a spore former and spores are very hardy little buggers that are very hard to kill (researchers and hospitals pressure cook everything to get rid of them). If the mixture was contaminated with C. botulinum then even if it was not in a vegetative (growing) state the spores would certainly be able to withstand that environment. A healthy adult that has not been any a heavy antibiotics regimen does not really have to worry about ingesting said spores but someone who does not have their gut full of bacteria (such as someone on antibiotics or infants under the age of about 1) does. The toxin is released by C. botulinum when it is coming out of its spore (when conditions favor its growth), and thankfully is a heat labile toxin as Michael pointed out, my pathogenesis text suggests boiling for 10-15 minutes (it is referring to home canned food in which contamination and growth can be a real problem). Not being the expert on Clostridia I would have to go with better safe than sorry myself and heat the mixture if you are worried about it (unless you are trying to make botox). On a related note C. botulinum spores can be found in honey which is why people are told not to feed it to infants.

Sorry if this was too much info, especially since I could not give a definitive answer to the question.

I think I make the best mashed potatoes around, and just about everyone who has tried them agrees. I have developed my technique ('cause it's not really a recipe) by watching them do it on the food channel and by my own personal trial and error.

My way is quite similar to the recipe featured here. I highly suggest rinsing your cubed potatoes in cold water through a colander prior to cooking. This washes off extra starch and brings you delightfully fluffy results later.

After you cook the taters, drain them well. This is important.

Heat your milk (or cream, half and half, whatever) and completely melt butter before adding to the cooked potatoes. Two reasons (that I can think of) support this: first, to avoid overmixing by making the hot potatoes melt your butter for you; and, second, the potatoes absorb better and more quickly the hot liquids (because they are hot, I guess).

Now, many of you scoffed at the thought of using a mixer to mash the cooked potatoes. I wouldn't do it any other way, as long as I can use my flat paddle attachment (never use the whip or wisk attachment or even the beaters of the hand-held mixers).

I normally use low-fat milk and smart-balance type of margarine and a small amount of real butter. But for a holiday or other special occation, for the liquid i will use a equal parts of helf-and-half and real cream and, of course, all real butter. I cannot tell you the amounts, because I just eyeball it.

Apologies for the doom and gloom tone of my first couple of posts here, but I'm currently sitting through a weekly 4 hour lecture course on Restaraunt Safety and Sanitation. I figure that's got me a bit jumpy regarding what I put in my mouth.

kskerr wrote:

I am not sure if Clostridium botulinum would grow in the oil mixture, ...

From the National Restaraunt Foundation ServSafe textbook regarding major foodborne illnesses (botulism) and food involved in outbreaks:

"...untreated garlic and oil mixtures..."

Later when discussing botulism:

"Botulism...is so dangerous that people have died from just tasting and spitting out contaminated food."

Based on that information , I have started throwing away my homemade garlic infused oil after 2 days if I haven't used it all.

On a happier note, start your potatoes in cold water and bring them to a boil with the water. I have misplaced my notes on the exact reasoning for this, but it has to do with bringing the starch in the potatoes up to temp gradually rather than over-cooking the starch on the outer edges of your pieces while waiting for the potatoes to become tender in the middle. It takes a lot longer with this method, but they come out very creamy.

For a bit of extra kick, try substituting buttermilk for some or all of the cream.